The Coshocton County Beacon March 25, 2020 | Page 21
March 25, 2020
The Beacon • 21
Local schools supporting families with lessons and food
By Jen Jones
The superintendents of
all local schools said that
providing needed support
to families was their main
goal when an order from
Gover nor Mike DeWine
closed all schools in Ohio
on March 16.
Coshocton City Schools
Superintendent Dr. David
Hire said his district had a
few days of spring break
planned this week, so they
had a little extra time in put-
ting together a plan to serve
all of their students, both edu-
cationally and with needed
food. “Our ninth through 12 th
grade all have devices that
they take home every day for
lessons, so they will continue
to use those. We have made
arrangements for our seventh
and eighth graders to take
home the devices they use at
the school during the day,”
said Dr. Hire.
He also said that they were
trying to get internet access
for younger students to use
computers at home. “We
purchased hot spots and are
making plans on where to put
those so everyone can access
the internet. Our kindergar-
ten through third grade took
home packets of lessons, too.”
Coshocton City School
teachers will have virtual
office hours from 9 a.m. to
2 p.m. each day and parents
are encouraged to contact
their child’s teacher for help
with lessons. “We will also
be using our all-call system
Submitted
April Weinberg’s son Ethan is
pictured working on a reading
assignment at home.
to keep families updated as
things change,” said Hire.
As for food delivery, meals
can be picked up curbside
at Coshocton Elementary
between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Families are asked to pull
up to the lower entrance by
the gym doors and staff will
be there to help. Meals can
also be picked up between
10:30 – 11 a.m. each morn-
ing at Chestnut Crossing,
Papa John’s Pizza/Liberty
Church, First Baptist Church
on Chestnut St (across from
the Pit Stop), Grace UMC
on Walnut St., Coshocton
County Fairgrounds and the
Meadows.
Students will receive a
breakfast and lunch each day.
All children 18 and under are
welcome and the child will
need to be present to receive
the meals. Staff is asking
that you please stay in your
vehicles or to remind children
to practice social distancing
when they get their meals.
For questions about Coshoc-
ton City Schools meals, email
Jennifer Andrews at jenni-
fer.andrews@coshoctonc-
ityschools.com or call the
elementary or high school
office.
R ive r View Supe r i n-
tendent Dalton Summers
said their district is doing a
combination of online learn-
ing and using instructional
packets that were sent home
with students. “About half of
our students took a survey
last week and only about 15
percent of them didn’t have
internet at home, so we were
really pleased with that. I did
remind staff that we don’t
know what kind of data plans
those families have so we
need to limit sending videos
as instructions.”
“I am amazed at what our
staff put together so quickly
on the fly. They are all work-
ing together. I don’t care what
emergency plans you have as
a district – this is something
completely unprecedented
and our staff went above and
beyond to make sure our stu-
dents had what they need,”
said Summers.
River View staff will also
be available online for any
questions parents may have
about lessons. Unlike other
county schools, River View
does not have free lunches
for all students each day. “We
Library reminds patrons
about digital services
W hile the physical
library is currently closed
due to COVID-19, patrons
are reminded that digital
services are still available.
Digital cards can be applied
for at w w w.coshocton li-
brary.orgin order to access
the digital collection. Once
registration is complete,
an e-card will be emailed
within 24-48 hours.
The Ohio Digital
Library and Hoopla have
e-books, audiobooks, tele-
v ision shows, mov ies,
music, and magazines for
borrowing. The Ohio Web
Library includes resources
for homework help, health
information, and a variety
of other informative data-
bases. Lynda.com has over
12,000 online courses to
achieve personal and pro-
fessional goals. Help links
are available on the library’s
website and YouTube page.
Staff will continue to
work from home to provide
remote services. Staff can
be reached by email atin-
[email protected].
Patrons are reminded to
enjoy items that are cur-
rently checked out for a little
longer, as returns are not
being accepted. Overdue
fines will be forgiven. Wi-Fi
is available outside of the
library building.
The physical library will
remain closed until f u r-
ther notice. Please check the
library’s website or Face-
book page for upcoming
details.
SEND US YOUR
NEWS!
[email protected]
want to provide as much sup-
port for our families as we
can, so we are working with
churches and other organiza-
tions to get food to the fami-
lies that need it,” said Sum-
mers.
Joel Moore, director of
operations and transporta-
tion for River View said he is
using four to five bus drivers
to get 100 boxes of food to
families on Friday, March
20. “We had a targeted list
and will be adding more as
needed,” said Moore. As soon
as he had a definite list, he
would call the families and
make arrangements to get the
food to them, whether it was
a drop off at their usual bus
stop or at their home.
Ridgewood Local Schools
Superintendent Mike Maslos-
ki said his staff met on March
12to discuss their options if
the schools would have to
be closed. “We had plans in
place, but in the course of a
few days, much needed to
be changed. Everything hap-
pened quickly.”
Ridgewood students will
be using online and instruc-
tional packets for their les-
sons. Staff is available for
all questions and parents are
encouraged to use the dis-
trict’s website for up to date
information. Masloski said he
is trying to limit staff in each
building, but kitchen staff
and paraprofessionals would
be putting meals together for
students.
Any child 18 and under
can receive the meals and
must be present when picking
the meals up. Masloski said
students need to be at their
afternoon bus stop to receive
a breakfast and lunch. He
also asked that students be
there about 10 minutes before
their usual drop off time.
Meals can also be picked up
curbside at the Ridgewood
Middle School from 11 a.m.
to 5 p.m. If a student can-
not be at a bus stop or use
the curbside pickup, parents
should contact Michelle Stof-
fer at 740-545-5301.
“We have a great com-
munity that pulls together
when things are tough. We
are resilient and will all get
through this together, as a
school district and as a com-
munity,” Masloski said.
Coshocton County Board
of Developmental Disabili-
ties Superintendent Steve
Oster said all of the coun-
ty board staff are working
together to provide needed
services. Hopewell School
staff donating several car-
loads of food to take to their
students and the school will
still have their Backpacks for
Blessings available for the
next several weeks.
“We (the CCBDD) work
with the most vulnerable
population and we want to be
sure they are still able to get
the services they need,” said
Oster. He also said that all
county board staff is check-
ing on families via phone,
Skype or whatever is needed
to continue services. “I am
blessed to have staff who
are willing to go above and
beyond in a time of need like
this. Teamwork goes a long
way and having people who
care is really important.”
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